New liberal arts textbooks written by the Ministry of Education will appear in all first-year primary and middle schools across China effective this September. The books will replace those on three subjects i.e. Chinese language, history, law and ethics. They will have an emphasis on traditional culture, revolutionary history, and ideology. The Assistant Minister of Education, Zheng Fuzhi, said on August 28, 2017, that the new textbooks will help reinforce the "will of the nation and the “Core Socialist Values”.  Zheng Fuzhi is also Director of the Ministry’s Textbook Bureau. Separately, Caixin reported Wen Rumin, Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese textbooks, as saying “The core values will be embodied in the flesh and blood of the Chinese language [subject],” 

The new Chinese language textbooks will include dozens of articles about revolutionary heroism, such as Mao Zedong’s well-known piece “Serve the People.” Two of the new history textbooks chronicle the development of the Communist Party since its formation, naming more than 40 revolutionaries. Beijing News reported that students will also be taught that Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, and the South China Sea islands are historical and inseparable parts of China.

Compiling content for the new textbooks began in 2012. A team of more than 140 people edited the books, which have already been tested in 300 schools across 10 provinces. Earlier this year, the new editions were approved by the national commission of school textbooks led by Vice Premier Liu Yandong. The new national textbooks will cover all grades of primary school by 2018, as well as the first and second year of middle school. By 2019, all primary and middle school students will use the new textbooks.